The present invention relates to a display system for a vehicle, and more particularly to a display system which displays information of a road condition of a road ahead of a host vehicle.
Japanese Patent Provisional Publication No. 11-339192 discloses a display system which displays vehicles located near a host vehicle. The display system changes a displaying condition of a vehicle when it is determined that the vehicle affects the driving of the host vehicle.
However, such a display system yet has problems to be further improved.
It is therefore an object of the present invention to provide a display system that suitably assists a driver to drive a vehicle by smoothly and properly supplying information as to a road condition of a road ahead of the vehicle to the driver.
An aspect of the present invention resides in a display system for a vehicle. The display system comprises a projector, a vehicle condition detecting unit, a road condition detecting unit and a controller. The projector projects a virtual preceding vehicle at a position ahead of a driver of a host vehicle. The vehicle condition detecting unit detects a vehicle traveling condition of the host vehicle. The road condition detecting unit detects a road condition of a road ahead of the host vehicle. The controller is coupled to the projector, the vehicle condition detecting unit and the road condition detecting unit. The controller is arranged to calculate a traveling condition of the virtual preceding vehicle on the basis of the vehicle traveling condition and the road condition, and to command the projector to project the preceding vehicle which travels under the calculated traveling condition of the virtual preceding vehicle.
Another aspect of the present invention resides in a display system which comprises a preceding vehicle displaying section which displays a virtual preceding vehicle at a position ahead of a host vehicle driven by a driver; and a virtual preceding vehicle controlling section which changes a traveling condition of the virtual preceding vehicle so that the virtual preceding vehicle displayed is an image of the host vehicle at a predetermined future time.
Another aspect of the present invention resides in a method for displaying a virtual preceding vehicle. The method comprises a step for detecting a vehicle traveling condition of a host vehicle, a step for detecting a road condition of a road ahead of the host vehicle, a step for calculating a traveling condition of a virtual preceding vehicle on the basis of the vehicle traveling condition and the road condition, and a step for projecting the preceding vehicle which travels under the calculated traveling condition of the virtual preceding vehicle, at a position ahead of a driver of the host vehicle.